Enough to tax the conspiracy theorist’s mind

Roman Polanski’s name does not normally grace this section of the Financial Times. But the director’s arrest in Zurich last Saturday has raised some intriguing questions of interest to more than film buffs and legal eagles.

For the few who may not have heard, Mr Polanski, a French-Polish dual citizen based in Paris, was detained at Zurich airport while travelling to receive an award for his lifetime’s work at the city’s aspiring film festival.

As a bitter aside, the episode was just the wrong publicity for a festival, now in its fifth year, that is still struggling to justify itself, in spite of funding from Credit Suisse and the like.

Mr Polanski was held on an arrest warrant issued by the US in 1978, one year after he admitted sex with an underage girl, for which he faced a stiff penalty had he not skipped to France.

Later years brought greater fame for his hit movies. But Mr Polanski nevertheless travelled carefully, avoiding, above all, countries with extradition treaties with the US.

His detention in Switzerland, therefore, came as a particular surprise – and one triggering no end of conspiracy theories. For years, Mr Polanski has owned a chalet in Gstaad, the VIP resort loved by former Hollywood types. This year, he spent weeks there working on his latest oeuvre.

Locals say he made no attempt to conceal himself. Switzerland, moreover, is one of those countries where keeping tabs on foreigners is almost a national pastime. So why was such a conspicuous fugitive from justice not arrested earlier?

Cynics, of course, ascribe the move to a blatant attempt by Bern to curry favour with Washington weeks after the two concluded a long and bruising struggle over UBS.

Switzerland’s biggest bank admitted last February to helping rich Americans evade tax. Although the $780m agreement settled the criminal case against the bank, a linked – but separate – civil action by the US to force the disclosure of client names continued until last month, when the Swiss agreed to bend bank secrecy to appease Washington.

Swiss officials, of course, dismiss any link between UBS and the Polanski case. They say the arrest was inevitable after officials last week received details of Mr Polanski’s movements from US sleuths. A lot of arguments, none particularly convincing, is adduced to explain why Switzerland never acted earlier.

The claims may be true. But to understand why Mr Polanski was apprehended now, and not earlier, requires looking at matters in the broadest context.

Bern has just emerged from battling the US over tax evasion; Switzerland, although now off the “grey list” of insufficiently compliant jurisdictions drawn up by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, remains on the defensive over bank secrecy.

Peer Steinbrück, Germany’s hard charging finance minister, may be out of office, but international pressure on Swiss banks is not about to lift. Many believe the European Union is poised to take over where the US justice department left off.

True, UBS, bank secrecy and Mr Polanski are not directly connected. But imagine Washington’s reaction if Bern had not acted after the Swiss had been so thoroughly briefed. In the circumstances, only the greatest political correctness was to be expected.

Smart gridlock

Mention “smart grids” to most power engineering people and watch their faces light up. The idea that adding sophistication to electricity distribution networks and to home and office metering could solve many of the world’s long-term energy problems has become a mantra to executives at electrical engineering groups such as Siemens, ABB and Aveva.

The idea is sound. Against rising demand, only better management of existing electricity distribution facilities will allow generators to avoid having to build massive new networks, that might be hard to fund and near impossible to justify environmentally. And only by moving to “smart” demand – meaning much more ability for electricity consumers to choose how and when they use power – can renewables such as wind and solar power be harnessed effectively.

Even carmakers have been roped in – as the plethora of electric vehicles at this month’s Frankfurt motor show showed. Many electrical engineers expect battery-powered cars to provide not only mobility but also storage facilities for electricity from sources, such as wind or waves, that are not as predictable as traditional power stations.

But reality is a little different. Experiments in steering electricity consumption through intelligent metering, whereby consumers are given the technology to allow much greater choice, are scant. True, work at the distribution level is more advanced, but even this is only partial. And the idea that millions of electric cars will provide massive storage capacity is more fanciful still. No wonder that, for every engineer electrified by “smart grids”, there is one switched off by the hype.

european.view@ft.com